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When is it OK to change the team you root for? (2 Viewers)

What is "right" according to the "rules" of sport Fandom under the circumsatnces

  • Stick with the Amazing Mets?

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • GO with the local flavor if you know that is where you are spending the rest of your life?

    Votes: 8 66.7%
  • Total voters
    12
I grew up in Washington, D.C., moved to SF about 25 years ago but refused to give up rooting for my Skins/WFT/Commanders until a few years ago when I finally had enough of Dan Snyder and I wrote them off "for good." By this time, my kids were old enough to root for the Niners, so I started taking them to games at Levi Stadium and eventually I kind of adopted the Niners as my new team, much to my surprise as I never liked them even when they had Montana, Rice, Lott, etc. Now Snyder is finally gone, and it looks like I have two teams. Hopefully this won't be a problem until they play against each other. Honestly I'm not sure who I will root for, probably whomever my kids are rooting for, or whatever outcome benefits my fantasy teams the most lol. It's all good.
 
rockaction said:
Woody and Chris Johnson and their Sandy Hook-denying quarterback are making it awfully tough to cheer for the Jets. I mean, really tough.
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I am very fortunate that the NAZI-esque types associated with my favorite team are from the WW2 era. I really want to keep loving my Lions without any doubt.
 
Hot Sauce Guy said:
I lived in Seattle for 3+ years.

I went to a ton of M’s games. I rooted for the M’s at those games.

But I always wore my Giants cap. I was never not a Giants fan.
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I have tons of respect for that but for others my moral compass in that regard says "you do you." There are a whole host of reasons why I feel that way, but it's really not a big deal. I think that adopting a team can have effects on family, dating, social opportunities, and income, believe it or not. Those are all very important things that, IMO, take a backseat to any laundry you're rooting for that particular day. Most important of those would be the sense of community and all that entails. It's the lifeblood of things, and I'm not going to judge anybody who adopts their city's team.
 
Jesus, @Ilov80s, I still have no idea what reference you're pulling out of your ***. I now know that "Nonno" is Italian for grandfather, but I have no idea where the Balkan caves are coming in or what they mean.
 
That reminds me of the time I wouldn't accept an invite from a bunch of younger guys in law school to hang out with them. They were wondering why and I told them "Because I don't want to be sitting in room with a bunch of you guys smoking pot while we listen to Van Morrison's 'Moondance,' that's why!"

And at that point, one of them looked at me and said, "Real rational fear, rock. That's Occam's razor right there."

I laughed.
 
I feel like I have a team I want to leave, but my team who meets the criteria is just as bad.

Ironic enough the two teams have the biggest trade in recent history
 
I got started out liking the Baltimore colts and Dallas cowboys. Eventually the colts left town so it was only Dallas. When they fired Tom Landry I almost gave up. I only watched one game that year. The only game they won against the redskins. They next year I watched a few more and eventually they were my team again. Been with them every since . The 70s and the 90s were great. Since then, a lot of good but not good enough. Time for that to change, but my team will not.
 
i didn't read the whole thread. my rule on this is pretty simple. i don't like bandwagon fans and i don't like fair weather fans. i see chiefs gear all over southern california. yeah ok. if you used to love the pats but, ya know, not now that they suck. yeah whatever. flipping for other reasons probably doesn't bother me, especially if you move to different cities. it's good for the city when the local team succeeds, and it's good when its support grows.
 
Bri said:
Whenever you want! Just don't do it frequently.
I have a alot of tortured and teased Jets and Dallas friends.

It's absurd to commit for life.

I'm older and have changed my views over time
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Yeah, I say whenever.
I really don't even do favorite teams anymore. Each year, I have players and storylines I root for.
It might have been growing up in NC before the Panthers.

I tried over the years to find reasons to root for the Panthers, but just never really did.

Panthers are a prime example of why it's absurd to commit for life. I pity the 20 year old in NC that somehow thinks he is doing the right thing being a die hard Panthers fan.
That 20 year old kid is about to waste their 20's, 30's, and much of their 40's rooting for a terrible franchise.
 
My Dad introduced me to the Bengals and Reds. I have a lot of fond memories with my Dad going to games and watching games with him and my family. About 10 years ago I almost made a switch to another NFL team. I could not take Mike Brown and what I deemed not only a bad owner in general but one who had zero desire to put a winner on the field now or in the future. I debated this for a long time and even started the process of how to pick my new team. In the end, I could not do it. I had introduced my son to the sickness and just decided this was it for life. My son was a team flopper many times in his youth but in the end, he was and always will be a Bengals fan. He blames me for this. It was a long time of suffering before Katie came along and started the change in the franchise. I think you live once. Do what you want for the reasons you want. I think it is okay to change teams for bad ownership. I also think if you move and you have children who have not picked up on your sickness, then it is good to change to the local team and raise them as fans so they can go to games with you. The times with my Dad are the moments I remember most of us having fun together and going to games. We would listen to pre-game and post-game. We would debate for hours. Celebrate and cry together LOL. How could I switch????
 
I grew up north of Detroit, dad grew up a few miles from where I grew up. He was and is a die hard Michigan fan along with all Detroit sports teams. That influenced me to also be a fan of Michigan and all Detroit teams.

I always thought I’d move south. I found that I really liked Alabama football, it might have been the 🐘 or maybe I just wanted to cheer for a different team but didn’t have the guts to pull for Ohio State.

When Barry retired I was frustrated with the Lions owners and found myself enamored with the Titans (I really liked McNair) who had recently moved to Nashville. Shortly after they moved, I got engaged and my future in laws moved just south of Nashville. We figured we’d end up near Nashville and my fandom was cemented. We moved around a bit and I’d cheer for, in order of precedence, the Titans, lions, and the local team.
Now we live within a couple hours of Nashville and they’re our NFL team.

For college sports, I attended Kansas for law school so that’s my primary college team. Living in Alabama, the Tide is #2.

So yeah, I think it’s perfectly fine to switch fandom. Usually there’s a catalyst.
 
I'll never stop rooting for Dallas, even though I am convinced that Jerry has to die for them to succeed.

He only hires puppets to be his head coaches. And puppets won't lead a team deep into the playoffs unless the talent is overwhelmingly good, like it was when they won under Switzer. And even then Neil O'Donnell had to hand them the SB.

But no, I can't bring myself to switch fandoms.
 
It's ok whenever you want, why wouldnt it be?
However, it does mean you weren't really a "fan" of the original team. It was just the team you rooted for.
 
For me personally, with my Browns, I view it the same way I view my child. If my child was a D student, a whiny baby, didnt listen, and caused all kinds of mischief, I'm not going to give them up for adoption. It doesnt even matter if I dont like them, they're still my blood for better or worse.
 
I'm not physically capable of rooting for any other team but the Colts, Kentucky Wildcats, Notre Dame (football), Atlanta Braves, and Boston Celtics. Having said that, 27 years ago I married into an Ohio St. family, so I do pull for them too. I grew up watching Notre Dame football as a kid (late 60s early 70s) and continue to like them today. Every Sunday morning before the NFL games would come on I could watch the previous Saturday ND game in an hour, with no huddles or halftime, etc. Basically they showed every play of the game in an hour. I also grew up loving the Celtics. Those early teams with Jo Jo White, Havelicek, Cowens, Nelson, Chaney, then later with those great Celtics teams with Bird, Johnson, McHale, Parrish. I don't care as much about the NBA today as I did back then. I don't like how the game has evolved. No defense and just 3 point shots and dunks.
 
I stuck with the Bills through a 17-year playoff drought, so I have a hard time imagining what could cause me to switch to another team. I suppose it's not impossible, but the Bills would need to do something to drive me away. There's no way I would toss them overboard and start rooting for the Chiefs (or whoever) just because they're winning at the moment. I'm not wired like that.

I'm not even kidding when I say that I interpret bandwagon fandom as a low-key indicator of low character and lack of trustworthiness. Either that or the person just doesn't take sports even remotely seriously, which is fine of course. But it's one or the other. If you don't care about sports and you just casually follow your local team or the flashy team that wins games in entertaining fashion, cool, no worries. But if you actually represent yourself as a bona fide fan of a team and you only signed on recently, there better be a really good explanation for why. Otherwise I'm going to treat you as the kind of person who changes their religion to align with the most popular church in town. Nobody respects that guy.
 
No. Trust me if it was okay and easy I would have bailed on Washington during the Synder era of hell. But I just couldn't. Me thinks my patience will finally be rewarded :homer: :drive::pickle:
 
I grew up a Baltimore Colts fan. I was 21 when Irsay took them to Indy. I bailed on them and spent the next dozen years hating Washington, not really rooting for anyone else.. Back then, there was no practical way to closely follow a team halfway across the country. Had this happened this century, I'm 99% sure I'd have stuck with them (even with that awful owner) assuming Baltimore got no replacement team (and maybe even then). It took me a few seasons to warm to Ravens because I knew what the Cleveland fans were feeling. Baltimore should have gotten the franchise that Jacksonville got awarded in 1993.

Anyway, it's Ravens/Orioles/Terps/most of the other local colleges when they don't play Maryland. I also root for the Caps & Wizards, though it's a really casual fanship for me.
 
My son is 9... he changes teams 3 or 4 times a week and he seems to be really enjoying watching football games. Sometimes, he comes into a game and Team A is beating Team B 17-0 and he will immediately declare, "I'm going for Team A" and when they win... he's pretty happy to "predict" the winner.

However, he and I have gone to a few Dallas games and I must have made being a Cowboys fan look pretty glorious, because he seems to be following in dad's footsteps. At least I have the glory days of 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade to look back on. The way the Cowboys are trending - my son will not have any of that.
 
UncleZen said:
Living in Orlando, FL, I was a fan of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team because here in Orlando, we had the minor league affiliate for the Thrashers. The minor league team folded and the Thrashers became the Calgary Flames so I switched my loyalty to the local Lightning.
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Isn't there a dozen-year gap in there?
 
Tick said:
UncleZen said:
Living in Orlando, FL, I was a fan of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team because here in Orlando, we had the minor league affiliate for the Thrashers. The minor league team folded and the Thrashers became the Calgary Flames so I switched my loyalty to the local Lightning.
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Isn't there a dozen-year gap in there?
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Sorry, it was the Winnepeg Jets, not the Flames. That was the 1st time around. I think it was only a few years between but it may have been more. I was still enjoying the Thrashers for a few years afterwards because they were starting to call up the kids that we watched in Orlando.
 
ghostguy123 said:
For me personally, with my Browns, I view it the same way I view my child. If my child was a D student, a whiny baby, didnt listen, and caused all kinds of mischief, I'm not going to give them up for adoption. It doesnt even matter if I dont like them, they're still my blood for better or worse.
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I view it more like a pet. I’ll do what I can to train the dog, but if she keeps pissing underneath my bed whenever the baby cries, we’re not right for each other.

You could even say it’s like a marriage. Do everything you can, but if she keeps ****ing the neighbor, it’s over.
 
-OZ- said:
ghostguy123 said:
For me personally, with my Browns, I view it the same way I view my child. If my child was a D student, a whiny baby, didnt listen, and caused all kinds of mischief, I'm not going to give them up for adoption. It doesnt even matter if I dont like them, they're still my blood for better or worse.
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I view it more like a pet. I’ll do what I can to train the dog, but if she keeps pissing underneath my bed whenever the baby cries, we’re not right for each other.

You could even say it’s like a marriage. Do everything you can, but if she keeps ****ing the neighbor, it’s over.
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See this is where we differ.

Has anyone been watching Masters of the Air on Apple TV? Another Spielman/Hanks miniseries about WW2, this time about the 8th Air Force based in England.

There's a scene from Episode 3 which reminds me of what it has been like being a Lions fan since 1967.

We are going to sit here and take it (0:58)
 
IMHO you are only allowed to change teams upon death, your team ceasing to exist, or if in your formative years there was no local team to root for, you chose a team, then later a team moves to or is added in your area, then you can switch.
 
I'm glad this was bumped, because I was able to re-read my posts and see how smart I was back in 2011. I don't think I'm that smart now.

Still, my point remains valid: NFL teams are not loyal to fans. They'll take every penny they can from you. Not to "make a profit." To "make as much profit as they think you'll stomach." You're a revenue source, and nothing more. And the players don't usually care about the team. They're just a branch of their employer called the NFL. They're happy to relocate and wear a different uniform for more money. They get paid to wear the gear. You pay to wear it.

So knowing that, why should fans owe loyalty to a team? Support who you want, when you want. Or just enjoy the game as a whole. Or support a team until they stop showing a commitment to winning. If you're a revenue source, they're a product. Consume it any way you want. I know it's not the romantic view of hometown loyalty where you take your kid to their first game and build a die-hard mentality that lasts generations. But we don't live in the 1970s. They're putting playoff games on streaming services. Jerseys cost $200. You pay more to park than your dad paid to take you to a game. A hot dog and soda costs more than a sit-down meal at a fast casual place.

I'm not saying it's unfair. It is what it is. But if you're a dollar sign, they're a competitor for your dollar. When you buy in, you owe them nothing else. Just my opinion.
 
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